Assessing the Right Outcomes: Prospects for Improving Education for Youth with Disabilities

Abstract

Calls for reform in the 1990s will increasingly emphasize the importance of assessing educational outcomes for youth with disabilities. This trend represents a sharp departure from the emphasis on inputs and processes that characterized the focus of evaluation strategies during the past two decades. Despite widespread recognition that the achievement of better results is essential, there is little consensus among professionals and the general public about the central goals of education for children and youth generally, and in particular, for youth with disabilities. In fact, growing focus on results in state and national accountability systems has largely ignored the educational status and development of students with disabilities. In this paper we discuss important issues, conceptual models and research that seek to identify and refine educational outcomes that are important to achieving greater cultural assimilation and quality of life for youth, children and adults with disabilities.

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